129 schools in Shahapur to be closed down

With the education department’s decision on closing of the schools which have class strength less than 20, around 129 schools out of 384 in Shahapur taluka are to be closed down

Shahapur: With the education department’s decision on closing of the schools which have class strength less than 20, around 129 schools out of 384 in Shahapur taluka are to be closed down.

Thus 258 teachers would become additional. The education department has to take genuine efforts in Shahapur, where there is lack of educational awareness.

In a recent government ordinance on 13th December, those schools having less than 20 students on their roll books, are to be closed down from 1st June 2014.

In lone Shahapur taluka, there are 384 schools running under 32 centers where around 22,000 students take education.

Last year the number of students was 26,000. The government schemes and family planning has benefitted the citizens in the area and hence they are more inclined to move to nearby cities instead of living in the village. Thus the number of students in the schools run in village area has decreased.

Most of the educated parents and middle class families prefer English medium education to their pupils instead of giving them education in the Zilla Parishad run schools.

If the number of students in the classroom is less, it creates hurdles for the teachers in teaching. Thus the government has taken the decision to close down the schools having the students less than 20. The students from these schools will be admitted to nearby bigger schools. The students will also be funded with travel allowance.

At present in Shahpur taluka, there is unavailability of computer based education in the rural area. Around 17 school buildings in the taluka are on hold because of the forest department’s land issue and schools in other buildings do not have enough facilities.

There are 27 schools in the taluka who have less than 10 students on their roll book and 129 schools have less than 20 students on their roll books. Most of these schools are for 1st to 4th standard primary level schools. As per the ordinance the teachers appointed on these schools would turn additional and the spending on the school buildings will be a waste.

Shahapur taluka is tribal area where there is lack of educational awareness among the citizens. If the schools having less than 20 students get closed down, it is feard that these children would be deprived from further education.

In a recent observation conducted by the Chairman and the deputy Chairman, it was seen that the number of students in these schools was very weak.

The children are forced into traditional work like collecting Gum, Karanda, and Jamuns and are also asked to go on goat herding. Thus many of the children in the area are away from education.

There is no Bus service available to connect the inaccessible areas in the Shahapur taluka. In addition there is no security in private transport service.

The 10 to 15 small tribal villages in inaccessible Mal area along with 27 other tribal villages in Kasara area do not find the answer for access to bus service.